Brown Rice

X said he wouldn't touch seaweed or brown-rice sushi if his life depended on it. At the mere mention of steak and mushroom pie, Y began her rain-forest lecture. Z ("no sugar, no white flour") refused to taste the chocolate-coated Lamington. It was your usual you-say-to may to / I-say-to mah to night. Few are neutral when it comes to food "won'ts." The solution?

DOS PALOS, Calif. - Bagged rice may look like a mundane commodity, a bit incongruous at a local farmers market. But one taste of the variety grown by Koda Farms - with attractive, uniform kernels, alluring fragrance, soft texture and a rich, sweet flavor - makes clear that rice can be a delicacy well worth pursuing. "Their brown rice is different from what is produced in Japan, but has its own unique, nutty flavor," said Sonoko Sakai, a locally based cooking teacher who frequently travels to Japan and represents traditional Japanese rice growers in the United States.

There's nothing like the rich, nutty flavor of traditional brown rice. But the directions on most packages say to cook it 45 minutes to an hour. One day when I was in a hurry, I tried an experiment. I cooked brown basmati rice, which is available in most markets, for 25 to 30 minutes. I liked it better that way. It had a slight chewiness that was a nice contrast to the vegetables of this stew--which contains no meat, but you don't miss it--and it readily absorbed the vegetarian "gravy."

It's not surprising hotels are unleashing special perks and menus aimed at dog owners. Pet owners are an attractive demographic, last year spending more than $50 billion on their four-legged friends, a 73% increase in the last decade, according to Dillon Media, a marketing strategy firm. The biggest spenders were people who don't have kids at home - the kind of traveler who can stay longer and spend more. Although dog menus are still a rarity in U.S. hotels, they're a growing trend.

A television commercial produced by the South Korean government shows ancient warriors who eat brown rice are successful in their invasion of Peking, but once there, their captives feed them white rice and the weakened warriors are driven away. Promoter Tom Coyne of Little Rock, a proponent of brown rice, said he could use an advertisement like that to spread the word to American farmers and businessmen. Coyne, since founding Arkansas-based Devark Inc.

The most recent rice consumption statistics are impressive. Americans have been helping themselves to almost twice as much rice as they were a decade ago, a trend the Rice Council, a grower's advocacy group, attributes to an influx of immigrants from rice-eating countries and to new rice products. This run on rice seems to be confined to the white varieties. Despite its vitamin and fiber laden-bran layer, brown rice accounts for only 5% of the rice we eat.

White rice is nice, but brown rice has a chewy texture and a richer, nuttier taste. Brown rice is a good source of vitamin E, fiber and carbohydrates. Combined with lentils, it makes a flavorful salad rich in vitamins and nutrients. I prefer steaming brown rice in my electric steamer to cooking it on the stove top. It may take a little longer, but it always produces perfect rice. Keep an eye on the lentils so they don't overcook and get mushy. They should retain their shape yet be tender.

Liz Story has come down from the mountain. The reason? To use the phone. The 34-year-old pianist, who plays solo Saturday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and Sunday at the Strand in Redondo Beach, lives in a geodesic dome she erected on 20 secluded acres in the hills above Prescott, Ariz. "Actually, I was going to build two," the pianist said recently in a phone interview from a friend's house, "but I've only finished one so far.

Arsenic is one dangerous pollutant that can occur naturally (though it also can be a byproduct of pesticide use or certain kinds of mining), usually ingested via water. In Nepal and other impoverished areas of Asia where arsenic levels are high, low-tech water filters make a huge difference - a jar filled with rusty nails and sand. The ferrous oxide in the nails binds to the arsenic; particles then are filtered out in the sand. That works for households but not for rice fields, where immense amounts of water are used.

Interested in a vegan pop-up dinner with a four-course soy-, nut- and gluten-free menu? Clean Dinners, from health coach Stasha Washburn , pops up at Sustain Juicery downtown every Saturday. "The pop-up was inspired mostly by the fact that if I wanted to go out to eat, there were very few options," Washburn says. "If I wanted to have a nice evening out, I knew that I would pay for it the following morning. " So she decided to throw a weekly dinner party with food that fit her lifestyle, and she collaborated with Brian Lee, owner of Sustain Juicery.

Yoya Takahashi is the new sushi chef at Hamasaku in West Los Angeles, joining recent addition Wonny Lee, the executive chef (and Bazaar by Jose Andres alum) who has brought modern touches to a revitalized Japanese-California menu. Joining dishes such as black cod with pine nut praline sauce and bone marrow with shiso gremolata are Takahashi's sushi: trumpet fish garnished with its liver and uni topped with seared scallops, for example. Takahashi, who was chef de cuisine at Sashi in Manhattan Beach and headed the sushi bar for Makoto Okuwa, is bringing a traditional sensibility (with some modernist twists)

In response to a recent investigation that found "substantial" levels of arsenic in rice and many rice-based products, a group of Democrats proposed legislation that would impose federal limits on the dangerous element. Reps. Rosa De Lauro of Connecticut, Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Nita Lowey of New York said in a joint statement that their bill would require the Food and Drug Administration to set a maximum amount of arsenic permissible in foods containing rice. The move Friday is based on a Consumer Reports finding this week urging consumers to cut back on rice ingestion after researchers said they discovered "worrisome" traces of inorganic arsenic in products including brown and white rice and rice-based infant cereals, pastas, drinks and crackers.

Care to test your knowledge of the L.A. food scene? Check out the following menu offerings and see if you can figure out the dining establishment that offers them. Carved turkey sandwich with caramelized red onion, arugula and blue cheese crumble dressed in a red wine vinaigrette. Cilantro-marinade grilled chicken with minced garlic and blended jalapeno cream. Thai chicken whole wheat pasta with fresh local peppers, onions and mushrooms and asparagus and balsamic drizzle.

It's not all gloom and doom in Elizabeth and Tim McCreary's pantry, but registered dietitian Lisa Gibson found plenty of room for the couple to improve. What the McCrearys are doing right: Making home-cooked meals with ingredients such as skinless chicken and brown rice is a good start to eating more healthfully, but they need to be consistent and watch their portion sizes. Instead of nachos made with fried chips and gobs of cheese, Gibson recommends upping the nutritional value by using fresh corn tortillas, cutting way back on the cheese and adding nonfat refried beans, lean ground turkey cooked with salsa, plus lettuce and tomatoes.

The ladies clogging the canned food aisles at the Crenshaw-area Ralphs last week weren't trying to find the best deals for their pocketbooks, but the smartest choices for their bodies. The peaches intended for Sunday's cobbler? Those packed in "extra heavy" syrup come with twice the calories as the "extra light" variety. The chicken broth for a hearty soup? "Natural goodness" on the label means 400 fewer grams of sodium. Substitute brown rice for white, and you've got half the calories and twice the fiber.

DOS PALOS, Calif. - Bagged rice may look like a mundane commodity, a bit incongruous at a local farmers market. But one taste of the variety grown by Koda Farms - with attractive, uniform kernels, alluring fragrance, soft texture and a rich, sweet flavor - makes clear that rice can be a delicacy well worth pursuing. "Their brown rice is different from what is produced in Japan, but has its own unique, nutty flavor," said Sonoko Sakai, a locally based cooking teacher who frequently travels to Japan and represents traditional Japanese rice growers in the United States.